Michelangelo's David Trivia
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
5correct to beat the crowd
41 free Michelangelo's David trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
This Michelangelo's David trivia quiz is about the statue itself, not the sculptor's whole career (for that, try our Michelangelo trivia page). It follows the 'giant' from the block of Carrara marble that Agostino di Duccio abandoned in 1466, through the 26-year-old Michelangelo winning the commission in 1501, the tools he used, the committee of Leonardo and Botticelli that argued over where to put it, and the four-day journey on greased logs to the Piazza della Signoria in 1504. It then covers the statue's rough later life: stones thrown at it the year it debuted, the arm broken in the 1527 riot, the acid cleaning of 1843, the move to the Accademia in 1873, the 1991 hammer attack, the cracked ankles, the 2004 restoration fight, and the plaster cast with a detachable fig leaf that Queen Victoria passed on to the V&A. Every answer is checked against Wikipedia's article on the statue and each explanation adds one further detail. Suitable for art history students, Florence-bound travellers and anyone who has stood in the Accademia and wondered why the hands are so big.
30 of 41 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How did workers get the finished David out of its workshop in 1504?
Broke the wall above the door
Broke the wall above the door, the diarist Luca Landucci wrote, since the 5.17-metre statue was too tall to leave the cathedral workshop through it.
Q 02Which ideal did the David come to symbolise for the people of its city?
Republican liberty
Republican liberty was what Florentines read into it: like the young hero facing a giant, their small republic stood up to more powerful rival states.
Q 03Which famous work had Michelangelo just finished before he returned to Florence to carve the David?
The Pietà
The Pietà is the only work he ever signed: Vasari says he carved his name on it at night after hearing visitors credit another sculptor.
Q 04Which unfinished Michelangelo statues line the corridor leading to the David in Florence's Accademia?
The Prisoners
The Prisoners were meant for Pope Julius II's tomb, but when its design was scaled back they stayed in Michelangelo's studio and later decorated a grotto in the Boboli Gardens.
Q 05Which sculptor was contracted in 1464 to carve a marble David for the cathedral, decades before Michelangelo?
Agostino di Duccio
Agostino di Duccio had lost the commission by late 1466, possibly after Donatello's death, and the block he had begun to shape was left unused for a decade.
Q 06From which quarrying town did the marble for the David come?
Carrara
Carrara's Fantiscritti quarry, worked since Roman times, supplied the block, which was dragged to the coast by oxen and then shipped on to Florence.
Q 07What nickname did the Florentine cathedral overseers give the neglected marble block?
Il gigante
Il gigante, the giant, was what the overseers called the block, and the name stuck: Florentines went on calling the finished statue The Giant.
Q 08In 2010, what did Florence's mayor cite to claim the David for the city?
An 1871 transfer of buildings
An 1871 transfer of buildings to the city was his proof, but the state's lawyers said the deal never named the David.
Q 09Which two famous artists sat on the 1504 committee deciding where the David should stand?
Leonardo da Vinci and Botticelli
Leonardo da Vinci and Botticelli both sat on the committee; of nine sites discussed, Leonardo favoured the sheltered Loggia dei Lanzi while Botticelli wanted the statue beside the cathedral.
Q 10Which bronze did the David replace beside the entrance of Florence's town hall in 1504?
Judith and Holofernes
Judith and Holofernes, Donatello's bronze of a widow beheading an enemy general, had to be taken down and moved into the palace, the diarist Luca Landucci wrote.
Q 11How was the David moved half a mile to the piazza in 1504?
Rolled on fourteen greased logs
Rolled on fourteen greased logs, the statue hung from ropes inside a wooden frame so it would rock gently instead of knocking against the beams, and more than 40 men took four days.
Q 12What happened to the David during its four-day move to the piazza in 1504?
It was pelted with stones
It was pelted with stones by youths at night, the diarist Luca Landucci recorded, so a guard was posted over the statue as it inched across the city between 14 and 18 May 1504.
Q 13Which part of the David was broken into three pieces during an anti-Medici riot in 1527?
Q 21In 2023 a lesson showing the David cost a principal her job in which US state?
Florida
Florida: principal Hope Carrasquilla was forced out after complaints that sixth-graders were shown the statue without parental notice.
Q 22What did the sculptor Aristodemo Costoli use to clean the David, causing lasting damage?
Hydrochloric acid
Hydrochloric acid stripped away a protective coating of wax that had been applied to the statue.
Q 23Why did the first restorer hired for the David's 2004 restoration quit?
She opposed the wet cleaning method
She opposed the wet cleaning method, fearing water poultices would harm the marble, and quit rather than use them; her successor cleaned it mostly with distilled water.
Its left arm
Its left arm broke in the riot, and Giorgio Vasari later said he and his friend Francesco Salviati saved the pieces as boys.
Q 14Why was the David moved from the piazza into the Accademia in 1873?
To protect it from damage
To protect it from damage, the statue was taken in after almost 370 years outdoors, though planners also hoped it would draw crowds to a new Michelangelo museum.
Q 15What is unusual about the David compared with earlier Davids by Donatello and Verrocchio?
Goliath is left out entirely
Goliath is left out entirely: Donatello and Verrocchio showed the victor standing over the giant's severed head, but Michelangelo's David stares into the distance, brow tense, in the moment before the fight.
Q 16Which classical term names the weight-shifted stance that Michelangelo's David adopts?
Contrapposto
Contrapposto rests the weight on one leg so the hips and shoulders tilt opposite ways, which makes the figure look as if it is about to move.
Q 17Which parts of the David are unusually large for both Michelangelo's work and antique models?
Head and hands
Head and hands are outsized, the right hand especially, probably because the figure was meant to be read from far below on the cathedral roofline.
Q 18What does David hold in his left hand, draped over his shoulder?
A sling
A sling lies in his left hand, draped over his shoulder, its strap running down to the right hand; the strap was gilded the summer after the statue was installed.
Q 19What did Michelangelo carve behind David's right leg to help support the statue's weight?
A tree stump
A tree stump braces the right leg, which carries most of the statue's weight, a prop ancient sculptors had long used to steady standing marble figures.
Q 20In 1991 a man named Piero Cannata attacked the David with what?
A hammer
A hammer smashed a toe on the statue's left foot, and that toe then had to be restored.
Q 24Which part of the David has developed cracks that engineers monitor closely?
Its ankles
Its ankles carry the load, and a slight forward lean the statue picked up while the ground settled under it in the piazza is thought to have opened the cracks.
Q 25To whom did Grand Duke Leopold II of Tuscany give a plaster cast of the David in 1857?
Queen Victoria
Queen Victoria was sent the cast, reportedly to soothe feelings after Tuscany refused to let a Ghirlandaio painting go to London, and she gave it to the museum now called the V&A.
Q 26What was kept ready for a museum's plaster cast of the David, to put on before important visits?
A detachable fig leaf
A detachable fig leaf was hung on the cast from two hooks before important visits, since the nude figure was thought too shocking for distinguished guests.
Q 27Why did Tuscany's ruler order a full-size copy of the David in the 1840s?
To test new sites for it
To test new sites for it, the copy was to be set up in different spots around the city, and later casts have been taken from it instead of from the marble itself.
Q 28What were engineers checking when they aimed radar at the David in 2015, worried about crowds?
Vibrations from footsteps
Vibrations from footsteps were the concern, so readings taken on a Monday, when the gallery is closed, were compared with a Tuesday, its busiest day.
Q 29Which tool did Michelangelo use to carve the pupils of David's eyes and the curls of his hair?
A drill
A drill, spun with a bow, bored the pupils, and their dark hollows catch shadow so the statue's gaze still reads clearly from a distance.
Q 30Why was the David never placed high on the cathedral it was carved for?
It was judged too fine for the roof
It was judged too fine for the roof, so on seeing the finished statue a committee chose a public square for it instead.